14TH SUNDAY IN
ORDINARY TIME B
YEAR OF THE CLERGY AND
CONSECRATED PERSONS
JULY 8, 2018
Jesus, I trust in you.
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| The Selfie of God |
“Rebels who rebelled against me,”
so did God speak about the Israelites when he sent the prophet Ezekiel to them.
From the beginning, the Lord never kept the difficulty of the challenge a
secret to the prophet: “Hard of face and obstinate of heart (matigas ang ulo at
walang pitagan) are they to whom I am sending you.” Even Jesus was amazed at
their lack of faith. They always have a reason to refuse to believe in what the
prophet has to say. Instead of listening intently to the Word of God, they are
on the look-out for some flaw in argument or in the person of the prophet. In
the case of Jesus, they complained: Is he not the carpenter, the Son of Mary?
They could not find fault in what the Lord said: What kind of wisdom has been
given him? They could not deny the greatness of his work: What mighty deeds are
wrought by his hands! They could not even find fault in his person so that they
found fault in the fact that they knew his family and his origins. They simply
had to find fault in something in order to justify their unbelief. (The
president who called God “stupid” is now asking for a selfie as proof that God
exists.) There can only be one reason for their unbelief and that would be
their hardness of face and obstinacy of heart. Knowing the number and gravity
of their sins, they would rather choose not to believe than choose to repent
and change their ways. (Even if we produce that selfie, still he will not
believe.) “For the believer, no proof is necessary. For the unbeliever, no
proof will be sufficient.” So said St. Thomas Aquinas.
If this were so, then why does God
still insist on sending prophets to a rebellious house? If Jesus knew that no
prophet is accepted in his own native place, then why did he still insist to go
there? The stubbornness of God’s love can be the only answer. The stubbornness
of God’s love is his response to the stubbornness of the human heart. While God’s
love remains constant, man’s obstinacy of heart may change. That is why again
and again he sends prophets to that rebellious house. “Whether they heed or
resist – for they are a rebellious house – they shall know that a prophet has
been among them.” (Sa making sila o hindi – dahil matigas nga ang kanilang ulo
– malalaman nilang may isang propeta sa gitna nila.)
Hindi siya nagkulang ng paalala.
Isn’t this so typical of a loving father? The parent does not tire of advising
his children because he wants to keep them from danger. But if his child is
obstinate, no amount of parental advice can protect him from danger. Whatever
happens to him is not the fault of his parents but it is the result of his own
doing. I remember Freddie Aguilar’s song. He sang of how parents love their
child so much: “Minamasdan pati pagtulog mo.” But in spite of such love and
care, the child goes wayward: “Nagdaan pa ang mga araw at ang landas mo’y
naligaw. Ikaw ay nalulong sa masamang bisyo.” And the parents could do nothing
but ask: “Anak, ba’t ka nagkaganyan?”
God keeps sending prophets because
he does not tire of warning his children of the dire consequences of their
wayward ways. Remember the Book of Wisdom from last Sunday’s Mass? The Word of
God said: “God does not rejoice in the destruction of the living.” Therefore,
let us heed the prophets whom God sends us. Let us not detest what they say. If ever we discover that our lives are not in
accordance to the ways of the Lord, let us not hesitate to repent and change
our ways. Instead of calling God “stupid,” let us abandon our own stupidity. Let
us not wait for God to ask us, “Anak, ba’t ka nagkaganyan.” “For out of
compassion for the waywardness that is ours, he humbled himself…by the passion
of the Cross, he freed us from unending death, and by rising from the dead, he
gave us eternal life.” Let us not be obstinate of heart. If today, you hear his
voice, harden not your hearts.
O Mary conceived without sin, pray
for us who have recourse to thee!
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